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Ghrelin is a small endogenous peptide principally produced and secreted by the gastric mucosa, with a major role in appetite and metabolism regulation. We hypothesized that antiinflammatory therapy, as produced by exogenous administration of ghrelin, would decrease the myocardial inflammatory response to global hypothermia I/R, thereby affording myocardial protection. Heterotopic cervical heart transplantation that allows to subject donor hearts to global hypothermic ischemia and blood reperfusion, which very closely stimulates I/R conditions associated with cardiac surgical operations. Ghrelin administration prior to blood reperfusion significantly decreased serum concentrations of cTn-I versus animals subjected I/R alone, with a significantly attenuated VCAM-1 expression in I/R animals pretreated with ghrelin. The tissue concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and MCP-1) were ameliorated by the administration of ghrelin prior to reperfusion versus the concentrations observed in animals subjected to I/R alone. Significantly fewer monocytes in the tissue sections of I/R+ghrelin animals versus those subjected to I/R alone. Exogenous ghrelin administration prior to reperfusion of an ischemic heart resulted in a significant reduction in myocardial injury as measured by cTn-I. The reduced myocardial injury was accompanied by an attenuated tissue expression of several pro-inflammatory mediators including VCAM-1, IL-6, IL-1β, and MCP-1.

No abstract